Mario Monti attacks Silvio Berlusconi's 'family values'

Mario Monti has kicked off his Italian election campaign in earnest by taking
a shot at sex scandal-tainted Silvio Berlusconi's posturing on family values.

Mario Monti kicked off his election campaign with a broadcast on an Italian radio stationPhoto: EPA

By Andrea Vogt, Bologna

5:13PM GMT 02 Jan 2013

Early elections scheduled for February were triggered after Mr Berlusconi, 76, pulled his party's parliamentary support, prompting Mr Monti's resignation.

Since he announced his intentions to seek office again, Mr Berlusconi, accompanied by his beautiful new fiancée 50 years his junior, he has hammered Mr Monti's pro-Europe rigour, saying it has inflicted pain and failed to improve the economy.

But Mr Monti, who is head of a centrist bloc on a pro-Europe reformist package, said on state radio: "Berlusconi has used unsuitable weapons against me ... like family values. Which speaks for itself.

“I think ethical values are fundamental and need to be defended. I hate parties that make use these ethical values, which they often do not respect in daily life, as a weapon against their rivals,”

Mr Berlusconi has been accused by prosecutors of paying for sexual intercourse with an alleged under-age prostitute, a charge he denies. His penchant for cavorting with young models and showgirls finally became too much for his wife Veronica Lario. According to a legal separation approved on Christmas Day, he has agreed to pay her 36 million euros a year (£29.4 million) – about £80,000 a day.

Mr Monti also defended his crackdown on tax evasion and staving off economic collapse, taking aim at Mr Berlusconi's logic.

"First he says that the government has been a disaster, then that it did everything it could. I hope voters are less confused then me," Mr Monti said.

Mr Berlusconi countered by said Mr Monti was "no longer credible", claiming he "broke his word" by entering the race after promising he would not when he took over in November 2011.

Last year, Mr Monti, a 69-year-old economics professor, pushed through austerity reforms as Mr Berlusconi sat on the sidelines.

Though the spread is down and markets calm, lending is still tight, Italians are not spending and joblessness keeps rising. A new wave of taxes takes effect in 2013 on everything from utilities to gas and postage stamps.

But Mr Monti insisted better times lie ahead, saying he would cut labour taxes to spur growth and redistribute wealth to help struggling Italians "catch their breath." "The light at the end of the tunnel is closer than before and I am far more optimistic that the tunnel will not collapse and destroy us as it threatened to do," he said.

Mr Monti's coalition is in a three-way race with the leading Democratic Party (PD) on the left and Mr Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PDL) on the right.